The CLUAS Archive: 1998 - 2011

28

Cllr Rotimi Adebari first came to Ireland with his family in 2000 fleeing religious persecution in Nigeria. After a few weeks the family settled in Portlaoise. Seven years later the people of Portlaoise have elected him mayor. You can read the full story in The Irish Times Online.


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27

"When we started out we wanted to be the Clash, we wanted to be an international band, not a Chinese band or a UK band." Joe Strummer is an icon to Xiao Rong, lead singer and guitarist with Brain Failure. His trademark leopard-spot haircut features in the artwork of the band's latest album, Coming Down to Beijing. The CD "may be our London Calling," says Xiao Rong. 

Brain Failure started with the Eagles. “I was 15, both my parents were working so my father sent me to guitar class. We learnt Eagles and folk songs. Then I started listening to [Chinese rock pioneers] Cui Jian and Tang Dynasty and Hei Bao.” Away from guitar class Xiao Rong was developing a preference for punk. “It’s easy and straightforward to play, at that time you are no one and you probably don’t have a lot. You can feel very full personally. If you go towards heavy metal it’s very serious and macho. I wanted a bit of humour.”

He found it in Green Day, Nirvana, The Clash and the Sex Pistols. “When I Come Around” by Green Day was the first punk song he learned to play on guitar. But when Xiao Rong started a high school band the group played Sonic Youth covers. Out of school and into Brain Failure, Xiao started writing in English after the band’s first album. In the mid 1990s punk in China was a real novelty pounced and Brain Failure found themselves in Time magazine.  “Foreign journalists were coming to us and asking us ‘oh you have punk rock in China?’”

Seeing talent perhaps, a German journalist advised the band they could take their music beyond China if they performed in English. “The idea is to make music international." And the writing process? “We won’t go really deep, we just want something that is cool. If people enjoy it that’s enough. We didn’t grow up in California so we won’t use smart English."

After two years playing around China a friend working at Jingwen, a large state-owned distribution company, landed the band a deal. “But they were lazy on promoting the album.” Three years later, in 2002, he wanted to do another album but I said ‘hey you can’t give us sales figures or give us money regularly and you have no plan to promote the album.’ He wanted to make a deal that would give him control of copyright.”

By lucky coincidence the A&R manager of Japan-based punk label Bad News happened to be in town when Xiao Rong was having his row with Jingwen. On seeing the band play he offered a deal. ‘Wow you guys are as good as when I saw Bob Marley play’ Xiao Rong remembers and cherishes the rather bizarre comparison. A USA tour and a recording session in Tokyo ensued. “Even though I had no money in the hand from them I agreed for the chance to go outside of China with the band.”

Bad News landed Brain Failure a 2003 date at legendary industry showcase South By Southwest (SXSW) in Austin, flying the group out with a couple of Japanese bands. The band played US rock showcase CMJ in 2004. But Xiao Rong was disappointed that many of the fans were coming expecting a Peking opera. "...They were coming to show expecting Chinese traditional, I wanted real punk fans." So he contacted the Dropkick Murphys. A New York show was followed by a next-morning run to California to play with the Pogues-sounding Celtic rockers.

Brain Failure spent the summer of 2006 opening for Dropkick Murphys' 20 show US tour. Dropkick frontman Casey liked the band's sound so much he offered to produce their next album. It was after September 11 and the new album, coming out in the US before it hit China, was titled American Dream. “It meant we are Chinese and we look at USA and we still want them to have an American dream, not just the car and house. If we are Chinese and go to USA we want to see the Elvis generation, the real steak hash burger and Coca Cola bottles."

Touring in the USA is not like touring in China. "In America you will take a van and trailer, in China we take our guitars and get on a train. You have to be a car owner in the USA. We spent US$100 a day on gas when touring. To pay the bills the band supplemented their pay by selling as many t-shirts as possible at shows. The crowds loved them. And Brain Failure learnt a lot. “We learned to keep our performance tight, you have to live like a musician. Biggest point is there to play music, not to hang out. If you party too hard you can’t play well."

The band played in front of 20,000 at the Palm Spring punk festival in Japan. Back in Beijing their regular haunt Mao Live is 400 capacity - they have also played Star Live, which fits 800. Graphic designer and band friend Li Chi opened Mao Live in Beijing's old quarter after a trip to Japan courtesy of Bad News to see how venues there are managed. “A live house rather than another Get Lucky or 13 Club.” The club rents the venue at a set price rather than negotiating door deals. The theory being that bands will improve their music and stage show to guarantee a crowd.

Xiao Rong reckons the reason Chinese fans are unwilling to pay for tickets and merchandise is not so much down to saving money as being cheesed off by the paucity of local acts. "Many Chinese musicians don’t know how to communicate with the audience. Entertainment has to be attractive." Sponsorships have lately helped to bring in foreign acts - Bacardi brought over Maximo Park and the Infadels. But if they want to support quality local acts Chinese punters "have to appreciate that the show will cost more than a bowl of noodles." A new album is set for the end of 2007 and the band will be back on the road in the USA in 2008. They’ve looked at touring Europe “but we’re pretty busy now in China.” The European scene suits better than Asia. “You need to fly everywhere, whereas in Europe you just need to buy a return ticket.”

Oh, and the haircut? The Offspring's guitarist Noodle gave him the idea. "And my wife is a hairdresser knew there was a hairdressers convention that needed models so they kind of played around with it. I like the effect."

 

  
 
 
 


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27

CLUAS Verdict: 6.5 out of 10

An inconsistent, genre-hopping debut, from the band that gave us one of the finest singles in recent years.

Johnny Boy 'Johnny Boy'Johnny Boy, a Liverpudlian duo, open their eponymous debut with ‘You Are The Generation That Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve’. This mouthful is a slice of pop perfection and was released as a single in 2004 to critical acclaim but sadly passed the general public by.

The album that we had to wait this long for is a frustrating listen as JB jump between genres with varying success. At times the listener is rewarded with gems which, other than ‘Generation’, include the electro-infused indie of ‘15 minutes’, the punk rock of ‘Formaldehyde’ and the Spector-esque splendidness of closing track, and debut single, ‘Johnny Boy Theme’. However the gaps between these songs are filled with tiresome choruses, strained vocals and over-the-top rants about modern day consumerism and other such socio-political hot topics.

If they are not careful, Johnny Boy might just fall into the dreaded trap of becoming a ‘singles band’, and an obscure one at that.

Garret Cleland

 


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27

Cluas Verdict: 1 out of 10

First there was "The Best Of". Now there is "The Very Best Of". I'd hate to hear the outtakes.

 

The Doors In this review we shall attempt to disprove the theory that everyone who writes about music is a failed musician. Not me, mister. No sirree. Unless beating out a semi rhythmical tattoo on the steering wheel or playing Satisfaction (I Can't Get No) on the top string of my brother's guitar counts, I have never strummed, plucked, shaken, hit at, tinkled or blown into anything. This is primarily because I am concerned that, were I to attempt to, the result might end up sounding like The Doors. I hate The Doors.

That they continue to be so highly thought of, half a lifetime after they last inflicted an original tune on the world has, in my view, absolutely everything to do with the fact that their singer stiffed the leg at a ridiculously young age. Surely be to all that's holy, it can't be because of the music. Light my Fire, Riders on the Storm, Hello I Love You and People are Strange are all here in all their dirgelike glory, each of them more aimless and tuneless and filled with Jimbo Morrison's bad poetry than the last. Truly, this is the kind of stuff that would have the "You're a Star" judges rushing to the nearest internet cafe, yelling "Google me a recruitment website, hold the coffee" quicker than you can say "There's a killer on the road - His brain is squirming like a toad"

For the cloth eared and the drug addled only.

Michael O'Hara

 To buy a new or (very reasonably priced) 2nd hand copy of this album on Amazon just click here.

 


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26

Steer Clear 'No You Hang Up'

Not a perfect album, but not a bad one within the strict quality confines of uneventful teenage punk.

CLUAS Verdict: 6 out of 10

A band of the new generation, N. Irish pop-punks Steer Clear have topped Bebo music streams with thousands of online fans. But so have a lot of bands: is that a genuine reflection of a good album? Yes in some ways, no in others. A triumph of marketing and good production over musical content, No…You Hang Up is filled with angsty pop-punk of a breed common across the generational band of age 12-15. For all that, there’s some undeniably catchy choruses, clever guitar work, erudite references to classical and classic rock, punk, metal and even pop. Despite the difficulties inherent in telling any songs apart, each of them are some good tunes with decent, if not ground-breaking or even naff-free, lyrical content. 

Anna Murray

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26

CLUAS verdict: 7 out of 10

Ghosts 'The World is Outside'Reincarnations of electronic outfit Polanski, Ghosts show with this album that they're a band of warm intentions and clever songwriting.

This new record from the band has one of the best opening tracks to grace an album in quite some time, despite sounding suspiciously akin to Jet's bass intro to Are You Gonna Be My Girl. However, the song itself (new single, Stay the Night) is a jazzy piece of crossing instruments, brass, walking basslines and a singable melody. Unfortunately, the majority of the remaining songs have a tendency to fade into the background no matter how much you try to concentrate on them, while the band themselves seem unable to settle on a sound of their own, instead borrowing from a others. Still, Ghosts are a band with a collective head for melody, and this album will inexplicably grow on you, no matter how much you resist it.

 Anna Murray


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26
Tarantino soundtrack = quirky, eclectic and interesting vintage pop. Listen and enjoy it now before it all gets played to death. CLUAS Verdict: 8.5 out of 10 Quentin Tarantino soundtracks are ...

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25

Ted Leo and The Pharmacists played an explosive show at the Fleche d'Or in Paris last night. Unfortunately, the turnout was low - in fact, the band's original Paris show (at the Nouveau Casino) was cancelled due to poor ticket sales, and last night's slot on the Fleche's Monday night bill a less-than-ideal solution. Still and all, they were magnificent - and free!

They must surely be one of the hardest-rocking bands around. Sometimes they rock like At The Drive In: furnace blasts of incendiary chords and screaming rage. Other times they rock like Thin Lizzy: southern-fried blues licks with stomping basslines on the side. On 'A Bottle Of Buckie' (from their latest album 'Living With The Living') they even rock like The Pogues. In summary, they rock like The Rock and Rocky Balboa hurling rocks at the Rock of Cashel.

Almost as impressive as the rock is the hair. Check out drummer Chris Wilson's Ronnie Drew-like beard! And bassist Dave Lerner's poodle perm! We haven't seen hair like that since (Snip! - CLUAS Legal Department).

If you want to rock, go to see them. They'll be at Crawdaddy in Dublin this Wednesday night - it's one of CLUAS's Gigs Of The Fortnight. They're then playing the Roisin Dubh in Galway on Thursday and Lavery's Bunker in Belfast on Friday.

To whet your appetite, here's 'Sons Of Cain' live from San Francisco:


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25

Groan. The new single by French singer Amel Bent is called 'Nouveau Francais' and it deals with contemporary social issues - and it borrows a few bars of 'La Marseillaise' to make its point.

We're disappointed because Amel's first album, in 2005, was full of sassy, smart, self-assured Rn'B-flavoured pop - the best of which was the brilliant 'Ma Philosophie', one of our picks of the best French tunes of 2005.

All that summer, groups of girls sang it in streets, on the metro and (if my upstairs neighbour is typical) in their bedrooms. In short, it did more to project and cultivate a positive image of ethnic French women than any political speech or well-meaning social initiative. If that's not political, then I don't know what is.

Now, for her second album ('A 20 Ans', which means 'At Age 20'), Amel is presenting a more mature image - with cliched 'socially-aware' songs written by middle-aged men (and even one by the elderly Charles Aznavour) which are completely out of touch with the young French girls who idolise her.

And as French people are currently recovering from having voted four times in the last six weeks, a climate of political fatigue is probably the worst context for releasing an overtly political record.

What a pity. Anyway, here's that derriere-kicking 'Ma Philosophie', one of the best French singles of the last decade. But be careful -  you can't dance and think at the same time: 


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25

On Friday night, one note popsters Arctic Monkeys played the Pyramid Stage of Glastonbury and were so dull they had to bring on fellow scallywag Dizzee Rascal to liven things up, which he didn't really. On Saturday night, The Killers upped the pace in dullness thanks to a performance by Brandon Flowers who decided to impersonate Damien Rice doing Freddie Mercury at an Elvis convention. The fact that they sounded like they played the same song repeatedly for the entire length of their set didn't help matters. On Sunday night, The Who went all out by being as exciting to watch as a group of labourers mixing cement by the side of the road. Am I missing something ?

Putting aside the obvious humiliation of running around in the rain for three days on farmland awash with mud, why would you then subject yourself to some of the absolute worst music on earth? I don't understand this festival, just as I don't understand the appeal of that dull little prog rocker DJ John Peel who now has a stage named after him at the very same Glastonbury or the music of Mark E. Smith for that matter or why Elvis Costello, who can't sing a note to save his life, keeps on recording jazz records. Nor do I understand why 'Later with Jools Holland' keeps on be talked about in reverential, hushed tones as being at the forefront of music television when they limit soul legend Smokey Robinson to thirty seconds at the piano talking about his life and music then allow Damien Rice free reign to wail his tuneless dirges throughout the same programme, not to mention the fact that Tom Jones seems to have a cut on every 'Later With' DVD that the BBC puts out.

Dont' get me wrong, the BBC makes the best music programmes on Earth. 'Seven Ages of Rock' has been wonderful to watch, 'Jazz Britannia', 'Folk Britannia' and 'Folk Hibernia' were all excellent, their annual coverage of the Cambridge Folk Festival is second to none, 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks' continues to be a laugh and they pulled out all the stops for both LiveAid and Live8 but, man, Glastonbury, what a sad excuse for entertainment. To paraphrase the punky girl in 'Four Weddings and a Funeral', I think it's dull as sh*t.


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Nuggets from our archive

2007 - REM live in the Olympia, by Michael O'Hara. Possibly the definitive review of any of REM's performances during their 2007 Olympia residency. Even the official REM website linked to it.